The little baby bird was hippity hopping around the parking lot, just getting his wings. Sunlight grazed the Powers Building. Artisan Works auctioned off a saxophone player. The young man looked my way while leaning against a bus shelter. Embedded in asphalt. (click once on thumbnail to view slide show)
Four days and nights of movies in two theaters and parties late into the evening hours. Of the movies I saw my favorites where Nerakhoon (The Betrayal), Unmistaken Child, Woman in Berlin, Skin, Yoo-hoo Mrs. Goldberg, and I thoroughly enjoyed Saint Misbehavin’: The Wavy Gravy Movie. Renee Sotile & Mary Jo Godges where wearing astronaut outfits for most of the festival to promote the premiere of their film Astronaut Pam: Countdown to Commander. Using archival NASA footage and actual interviews with Pam Melroy they where able to put the viewer in the drivers seat for a trip to the Space Station and back. That’s “Susan B. Anthony” in the picture along with the two “astronauts”. I didn’t take very many pictures at the parties but did catch this one photo of filmaker, actress Kim Leslie who was talking with filmaker Dave Puls of Animatus Studios. I got a chance to talk with Margot Starr Kernan (the lady on the right in the photo of two ladies). She submitted a five and half minute short film of the play of light and water in a Vermont firehouse. Lori Barnum let me take a picture of her and a friend who I cropped out of the picture. The Saturday night party was held at Max of High Falls on the event center’s opening night. There is also a Max at the Memorial Art Gallery, one downtown on Eastman Place, and another out in Pittsford on Monroe Avenue. Who is Max? I like the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari like windows that look out over the foyer at Max at High Falls. (click on thumbnail to view slide show then click on right or left side of picture)
Portents to come? Naw, not really. Why when linking what was heard, done, seen, sensed with something else happening in non-existent time do I often think it means something? Like what do I know? Be careful what you say… it may happen, this or that, or this does it and that doesn’t. Lost my bike the other day, this after telling Paul and Peggi the night before, what a great lock I have. Someone took the bike and left the helmet and lock where the bike once stood.
Asphalt everywhere, getting in and out of the car dozens of times daily, walking, biking. Some streets have more embedded objects than others. I don’t know what I’ll do when I retire July 1st. I can just see myself walking down the middle of some neighborhood street, camera in one hand and directing traffic with the other.
Bicyclists are everywhere these days, I especially like the ones zooming down Main Street with little miniature people sitting on park benches. Shadows on buildings at sunset make me think of things in hiding. Broken walkway, missing downspout… instant spring. Cars have wings. (click only once on thumbnail to view slide show)
SE Neighborhood Service Center staff where found looking at the Lieutenant’s police car when they arrived at work this morning. During the night someone applied a little original artwork on one side of the car. I think there is a message there, if not in the graffiti itself, maybe the perpetrators own satisfation. The car went directly to the paint shop. The Wavy Gravy Movie, at the High Falls International Film Festival… psychedelic color reminescent of the 60’s. Wavy Gravy was in attendance along with the director: Michelle Esrick. At the end of the program’s question and answer segment we all sang Happy Birthday to Wavy who will be celebrating his birthday tomorrow… 70th I think, but don’t take my word for it. He was visibly moved and his prescence was a blessing to us all. The movie portrays all the wonderful programs Wavy has and still is supporting. Rochester has a lot of trees, I also like the little fragile leaf/branches that grow on tree trunks.
I took a few photos today, but haven’t downloaded them from camera yet. These are from Thursday night while at Lux Lounge where I had a $1 pbr. Businesses on South Avenue where helping customers fight the recession with special discount prices. I didn’t know what a pbr was, but ordered one anyway. Turns out it’s a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon; not my favorite beer in the world. It’s been about thirty-five years since I last drank one. I once worked for the grandson of the Pabst brewery’s founder when I was on the newspaper staff in Aspen, Colorado… a toast to him. A full moon and while over at the George Eastman house I found Paul Dodd surrounded by pretty women on a really big bed. Saturday Mike Burns and I went down to Italy Hill to see Harry. It’s been about a year since I last saw him and he’s been growing a beard ever since. He lives in a cabin he built about sixteen years or so ago in the middle of the woods. He spends most the time there with his two dogs, the rabbits, birds, racoons and other creatures of the forest. I enjoy the peace and solitude but it would be quite a change for me to adapt that kind of life. I posted a YouTube link on my Facebook page of Harry playing his new Gibson guitar.
It’s at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_9hKE90u08
Wednesday night, Margaret Explosion not at the Little Café. Alan Holdsworth was playing at the German House but I didn’t go. AMP was at the Little Café. Scott Regan and Sue where listening to them. It was blues, jazz, pretty mellow. I got a couple good pictures of the drummer, Pete, and really blurry ones of Alex on guitar and Micky on bass. They had a guest pianist, John, who was out of sight. He sang a couple really soulful blues tunes. Bobby Henrie and the Goners where playing at the Dinosaur BBQ.
I digress. I’ve been wanting to include these pictures of what for me was one of the highlights of my trip to Rennes, France. That was for the two minutes, yes only two minutes – maybe three, I got to look at the Musèe Henri Pollés in the Champs Libres. Our Sister City group had spent hours in the Champs Libre, which is a public library, historical museum, planetarium, and concert hall. We had been entertained by a jazz quartet, learned about the history of Brittany, viewed the new King Arthur show, watched the universe unfold in the planetarium, and where finally being taken on a tour of the library. With only a few minutes to spare until our next engagement we arrived at the top floor (sixth I think) and while enjoying the panorama of Rennes our guide said “Oh, you might like to see the Musèe Henri Pollés,” which was in one corner of the top floor. She rushed us through the three or four rooms in a minute. I tried to take photos while being scooted along. While the group was waiting for the elevator to take them downstairs again, I snuck back and got a few more pictures. I never had a chance to return, but it was love at first sight. Henri was a writer, book dealer & collector, and probably much more. Before his death his home had become somewhat of a museum and he decided to bequeath his collection to the City of Rennes. I’m not going to say much more about him here, there is more info on the internet if your interested. One of the Google searches came up with a book by Carlton Lake, “Confessions of a Literary Archaeologist” that has mention of Henri Pollès, Jean Cocteau, and others. I’ve ordered it.
Building 5, 350 East Henrietta Road, 14620. I keep coming back here once a month to check if anyone has torn the plywood off the windows and wandered inside. Secretly that’s somethng I’d like to do. I don’t even know what the building was used for. Someday it will probably be torn down. The developer who owns it and other vacant buildings on this parcel plans to build a hotel, a small shopping mall, and apartments on the land. These plans and revision after revision have not yet come to fruition. With the recession who knows when they will take shape. Meanwhile I continue to snap pictures, each time seeing something new in the same old thing.
I’m going to play catch up and skip what I’ve been doing since the festival. It mostly involved working on my part time job and dealing with a very strange problem with my computer. But in my travels I’ve been picking up on the funky stuff in the neighborhood the past week or two. The cars with stickers, new gang tags reappearing on walls where they where just painted over recently, anonymous expressionist paintings done on canvas at Rochester Institute of Technology, a yard that won a prize for being whimsical/funky. When I’m home I occasionally get lucky and see my neighbor, Bernard, out walking his two dogs. He lets them run around in the fenced in parking lot next to the house. He started doing this in the early winter when there was snow on the ground and the puppies where still quite small. They where about a quarter of the size they are now and he used to bring them over to the lot in what looked like a gym bag with a door flap at one end. Now they are too big for both of them to fit in a bag so they get to wear leashes. They are the bounciest, liveliest, friendliest, yet gentle dogs I’ve ever seen. I was parking in the lot the other day and asked if I could take this picture. A friend knows the rider on the tall bike and she writes “His name is Jason, he used to run a blog here in rochester where he gave you his top picks for what to do around town. He actually built that bike, and has built others, one of which was called “the bike with two brains”–and he has taken his bikes to the Burning Man festival.” The robin is another matter. He and his mate have a nest in the maple tree in the back yard. During the past three days he would jump from the bush next to the living room window and fly into the window. From inside it looked like he wanted in. Judy and I didn’t understand what his problem was, We both thought he was a little demented. I was telling a friend about his behavior and she told me she had a blue jay that used to do the same thing on a window of her shed. She told me that they see their reflection in the window and our trying to establish their territory, trying to make this intruder leave. So I went outside and sure enough I could see my reflection as clear as day. So I’ve covered the window with a window shade on the outside and this seems to have satisfied the robin. Now he appears to be happy the intruder is gone and he can relax up in the branches of the maple tree.
It’s come and gone, but what a fun filled three days and nights it was. The Rochester International Film Festival celebrated its fiftieth year and is sponsored by the Movies on a Shoestring group. I volunteered to drive the guest actors and directors who had come in by plane or bus to the various venues we went to during the festival, This is the longest running short film festival in the world and they treat the filmakers well. The Festival is celebrating it’s fiftieth anniversary this year. One nice feature of this festival is that all the films are viewed in the Dryden Theatre before relatively large audiences, usually between 300 to 400 people. There is no running from one theater to the next or having to decide which films you will be able to see and which ones you will have to miss because they are both playing at the same time. The Movie and Film Centre at Kodak Park demonstrated some of the industry’s most advanced film transfer, and editing equipment. At the George Eastman House the filmakers toured the archive vaults and film preservation facilities in the photography museum as well as a tour of the George Eastman House. Saturday morning and early afternoon MOAS took the filmmakers to Niagara Falls for a ride on “The Maid of the Mist” (I didn’t go) then after the Saturday matinee we all went to the Animatus Studio for pizza, beer and soda. We had our gala party after the Saturday evening show at a members home. For more on the festival visit their web page at http://www.rochesterfilmfest.org/
